What is Bleacher Seating?

Some of the questions we are asked on a regular basis are, “what is bleacher seating?” and "what is rectractable bleacher seating?” These are seating descriptions that are commonly used in the USA but less well known in Europe. 

They are frequently mentioned in song lyrics, like this one by Taylor Swift:

But she wears short skirts
I wear T-shirts
She's cheer captain
And I'm on the bleachers

where they describe the seating at a sports stadium. But what’s the difference between bleachers and other types of seating?

What are Bleachers?

Bleachers are probably best described as fixed benches in a tiered grandstand – the type you might find at a football (soccer) ground in most European countries.

They tend to be uncovered, and it’s thought that the name bleachers might have originated from the fact that they were bleached by being exposed to sunlight.

Why Choose Bleacher Seating?

The main benefit of benches or traditional bleachers are that they don’t have defined seats and so they are suitable for all shapes and sizes of people. They are often used in school halls and gymnasiums as they are ideal for smaller children who don’t take up a whole seat and are happy to squash together. At the other end of the scale, they also suit larger people who might find standard venue seating with armrests a tight squeeze.

It’s Cost Effective

Bench seating is perfect for venues with tight budgets as they provide flexibility at a lower cost than a structure with individual seats.

They also save space because of the way the benches are mounted, giving you two rows of seats on the last tier, reducing the size of the stand structure required for the same size of audience.

If you choose to have bench seats with backrests, they can fold down manually or automatically when you need to move the stand.

How Does Retractable Bleacher Seating Work?

Seating system manufacturers also use the word bleachers to describe the stepped bases onto which individual seats are installed.

Otherwise known as Telescopic Bleacher Seating, retractable bleachers combine all the advantages of cost and space saving with the flexibility of being able to fold them up and down and move them quickly and easily. Automated stands make this process even faster.

Single row bleachers with one row of seats per platform are the most common and provide the best visibility for an audience. For halls with low ceilings, choose double row bleachers with two rows of seats per platform. It is possible to raise the height of the second row by 8 to 15cm to improve visibility for spectators.

For added flexibility, it is possible to install foldaway seats which fold down into a compartment inside the bleachers so that you can use the stand with or without individual chairs, giving you the best of both worlds.